Those who have eaten at Morrison Dining Hall are already familiar with the work of Reid Fleishman ’25.
When Morrison Dining first opened its doors in January 2022, it used reusable utensils, cups and dishware. However, the unique setup of the dining hall posed significant challenges.
The Morrison dishroom is located underground and connected by a moving carousel system. According to Fleishman, silverware frequently fell off the carousel and sometimes even became lodged in unexpected places, such as the ceiling. Coupled with understaffing, these issues made it extremely time-consuming for staff to manage the workload. As a result, Morrison had to revert to using paper plates and bowls to keep up with demand.
“I was eating at Morrison every day, and I noticed that they were serving with paper plates and bowls every single day,” Fleishman said. “As someone who is thinking about sustainability, that started to bother me.”
Then a sophomore, Fleishman went beyond just voicing his concerns — he took action. For over a year, Fleishman worked tirelessly to help transform Morrison into the more sustainable dining hall that it is today.
Fleishman’s journey began in September 2022 at the Cornell State of Sustainability Address, an open forum for students to voice concerns to dining management. Fleishman’s initial proposal was straightforward — implement a sorting system with chutes to drop silverware, similar to Okenshields. Fleishman realized this proposal was infeasible when he learned of the underground dishroom at Morrison.
Fleishman would not let the underground dishroom setup stop him. He began investigative work by talking to workers and management at Morrison and even going into the dishroom. He also spoke with the manager at Okenshields to see how they implemented their efficient silverware separation system. Learning about Okenshields led Fleishman to his second prototype — sorting bins attached to the moving carousels where students place their dishware.
Fleishman attended a Student Assembly Dining Committee Meeting to once again voice his concerns and propose his new solution in October 2022. The head of Cornell Dining, Paul Muscente, took notice of Fleishman’s proposal. Fleishman soon connected with Dustin Freeley, the general manager of Morrison at the time.
“Cornell Dining is always looking for ways to increase efficiency, enhance sustainability and improve the guest experience in our eateries” Freeley said. “Fleishman was very thoughtful in his suggestions.”
Now with the attention of dining administration, Fleishman presented the silverware bins on the carousel design. His proposal, however, was initially dismissed.
“The conclusion from this meeting was basically like, ‘that’s a great idea, but we’re not sure it’s going to be feasible,’ Fleishman said. “They basically just said to hold off on the idea until they had more staffing, and then maybe they would consider it.”
With his proposal being dismissed once again, Fleishman left campus for winter break hungry for change. He spent his vacation hard at work, coming up with 15 pages worth of ideas. One of these ideas would end up striking a chord with dining management.
Fleishman attended a Student Assembly meeting in March of 2023, where he proposed having six silverware bins underneath the dish drop carousel in a very similar fashion to how the Morrison Dining dish drop works today. Dustin Cutler, Cornell’s senior executive director for dining, retail and print services, took interest. Within a week, Morrison Dining tested Fleishman’s proposal.
“It was almost like a light switch flipped,” Fleishman said. “That next week, management was more receptive to my idea, and at the very end of March the bins were put to the test.”
On the first day, Fleishman noticed some problems with the bins — they were oriented vertically, causing students to have to reach back into the dish drop to place their silverware in the proper bins. Additionally, the labels designating fork, knife or spoon were pasted onto the bins themselves and would frequently slip off and cause confusion with students.
Fleishman quickly jumped into action and arranged to flip the bins horizontally and place the labels on the dish drop itself to help them stay in place. Fleishman also designed signs to encourage students to use the bins rather than placing silverware on the moving carousel.
“At first we were afraid that people wouldn’t actually use the bin and sort their silverware properly, but we were pleasantly surprised that many people were actually using the bins,” Fleishman said. “I think that was part of the reason why dining ended up keeping them.”
By early April of 2023, Morrison began to use reusable plates and bowls at the pizza and global stations. By fall of 2023, Morrison had fully transitioned to reusable dishware. Fleishman continued to make suggestions for improvements, such as putting nine bins out instead of six to make it easier for students to use them. He also developed the familiar “Help us Help You!” signs posted around many dining halls and an informative video that is shown in the Canvas sustainability course for freshmen.
Fleishman describes the project as long and difficult, but extremely rewarding.
“Every time I walk into Morrison, I’m happy to see my work in action,” Fleishman said. “It’s something that 99 percent of students don’t know I’m behind, but it still makes me happy when I see students putting their silverware in the bins. That was something I did.”
Marissa Gaut can be reached at [email protected].